Barber says Talib wants to change how he’s perceived

Once described as a “wild child” by former Bucs head coach Raheem Morris, cornerback Aqib Talib no longer is a child. And he’s apparently no longer wild.

After a string of incidents that began in college, continued with an alleged fight at the Rookie Symposium in 2008, and resulted in serious assault charges that eventually were dismissed, Talib has had an uneventful offseason away from football. Fortunately for the Bucs, he had a memorable offseason inside One Buc Place.

“One thing about Aqib’s offseason this year, and you can ask anyone in this building, he’s been here from February on. I think he’s really committed,” cornerback Ronde Barber told reporters on Thursday, via JoeBucsFan.com. “He hasn’t changed, but he’s committed to changing that perception about himself. And I admire him for that to be honest with you. He’s dealt with a lot in his four years or five years with us. Those can’t be issues for him anymore. We have to talk about what kind of football player he is and let all the other stuff die away as it should be because he’s incredibly talented. And his talent should speak for itself. We shouldn’t be talking about everything else.”

The only reason anyone was talking about “everything else” is because there was an “everything else.” When there’s no “everything else” and his talent is translating into big plays, then that will be the only thing to talk about.

The “serious assault charges” come from Talib supposedly shooting at a man that was repeatedly harassing his sister — this man had a restraining order him, had abused Talib’s sister and was a convicted child sex offender. The only thing we should be discussing is getting Talib some lessons down at the gun range so he doesn’t miss next time.

censorshipisbad says:Jul 26, 2012 3:52 PM

It is a good start, too bad most people have a long memory on the bad stuff. If Aqib sticks to doing the right thing he could be an elite CB.

When everyone across the nation said the Bucs should drop him due to his off field issue, the Bucs organization was the only ones who stuck by him. Having a pro bowl season (and not getting arrested) would be the best revenge

“Barber says Talib wants to change how he’s perceived”
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How about changing who you are first? Then people can “perceive” more accurately the image you wish to project.